


Relinquished

by pentaquince



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: M/M, Other, Sibling Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:20:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27379345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pentaquince/pseuds/pentaquince
Summary: Moving on isn't easy, especially when you've spent your whole life never giving up, and it feels better to be disposed of than tossed to the side.
Relationships: Envy/Greed (Fullmetal Alchemist)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	Relinquished

It hurt. It was some of the sharpest pain Envy had experienced since the moment they were created and felt nothing but a consuming agony and hatred burning through their new form. Envy lost, humans won, they got to have Greed. Those loathsome beings got everything they did not deserve; everything that was rightfully the Homunculi’s, rightfully Envy’s. 

And even worse, Greed won. Just like he always did. He always got what he wanted, and never gave up trying to acquire it. He only existed for his own desires. Everything he did was his choice, and his choice was leaving his family. Leaving Envy.

What made Greed’s betrayal hurt the most was how he treated it without a care in the world. He didn’t announce to Father that he was ditching them, unlike how he always disrupted their meetings by proudly announcing hating him and how he was planning to topple him. Perhaps the other homunculi didn’t take Greed’s rebellious words seriously enough, or didn’t think he was truly capable of leaving them, until it was too late.

All the times Greed had bullied, insulted, pushed their buttons, called Envy ugly, weak, a coward, pathetic, a freak, deliberately aggravated them was better than being ignored. In fact, Envy came to enjoy fighting with him in some perverse way. It felt like they were obsessed with each other, addicted to messing with each other’s heads and grabbing each other’s attention even when it manifested in the most negative directions. Envy could get along a lot smoother with Lust and Gluttony, but they could never feel that same intense rush they got from exchanging scathing sarcastic insults that would often spiral into violence.

But perhaps, all this time, Greed felt nothing for Envy. Maybe getting a rise of them was all he really “liked” about them, and he got bored of it.

Maybe everything Pride said to drive a wedge between their “relationship,” that night it started getting intimate in an un-familial way that wasn't merely violence, was true. 

“He’s using you. He knows you’re desperate for attention. He knows you want something resembling human’s relationships, even though as a homunculus you will never need something as useless and disingenuous as what humans give to each other. It’s such an embarrassment that you can’t realize that.”

“You’re a pawn in his games. Your abilities, your lack of dignity and restraint, are useful to him. His personal image is never to lie or hurt women, but he knows you would never hesitate.” 

“He slept with you to rebel against Father. You think anyone, even someone with standards as low as his, could be attracted to something repulsive as you? Just like you, Greed does things out of spite and grudges.”

“He’s trying to manipulate you into rebelling with him. Tell me, Envy, would you like to be another nuisance to your own beloved Father, like him?”

Envy would always respond with some variation of “I know, I’m not some idiot, just in this for the thrill. I’m not some idiot who will think it’s anything more that.”

But they were. They knew they were.

Greed knew their first little sibling was something he could exploit, if he gave them something resembling praise and affection, using his bizarre, contradictory seductive charm that could make you want to punch the smug bastard’s face in and crawl to his knees at the same time. Envy liked to believe they were completely immune to it, but it must have worked to some extent. Greed could use Envy’s vast powers and manipulation abilities to further his goals, and rebel against Father by screwing up the family system, with a whole other homunculus by his side. But that didn’t work out, because Greed could never convince Envy to do anything that would contradict their hatred of humans. And it didn’t matter- because Greed escaped without Envy’s help anyway.

If Greed had attempted to kill Envy instead, or told them just how much he hated them, or how little he really thought of them…it wouldn’t hurt nearly as much as this. Being tossed to the side like a used rag.

But Envy was exhausted, and numb, from resenting Greed. They no longer felt that familiar desire for catharsis and schadenfreude that they always felt for humans. After fantasizing about it for a few years, Envy didn’t want to torture him or his closest possessions anymore. It’s not like Father would allow them to curl up and wallow in their grief, anyway; the Promised Day was emerging ever closer, and there were still millions of humans to make suffer, bleed and harvest. A scapegoat for Envy’s feelings, as always.  
What Envy wanted most was Greed, and all their memories of him, to be erased from existence. The fond memories Envy had of Greed – something Envy wanted but could no longer have, what they should have, were most painful. They hated to acknowledge them. And it wasn’t Pride or Father who put an end to it; it was Greed himself who snatched himself away from them. 

Envy never wanted to Greed to know just how jealous they were when it came to him. Fucking sick asshole probably got some level of pleasure seeing how violent Envy would get in their possessiveness, even with the countless losses of his own possessions that it caused. Possessiveness: that was their biggest common trait, and deep down, they both craved being the objects of it even more than possessing. If Envy couldn’t be it, they sure weren’t going to allow that for Greed. Envy knew that apathy hurt worse than hatred, and if Greed was going to give them apathy, the best spite would be to hand it right back.

Father declared that the homunculi even mentioning the traitor’s name would be taboo, until he was captured back and “cleansed” of his memories; a fresh new start, a new homunculus, a loyal son that would obey his father’s orders just like the others, just like Greed did before he found the higher point to climb.

Envy would never ask Father to be given traitor’s punishment, but they wished could be cleansed like that too. Pure, new, ignorant, with only the knowledge to never make the same mistakes as that obsolete, old Envy did.


End file.
